Category: News

Yesterday (August 28) morning, it didn’t seem like Taylor Swift would have much to do with that night’s MTV VMAs beyond being nominated for some awards. That changed as the day progressed, though. First, it was rumored she would be making a surprise appearance and indeed, she showed up on the red carpet. Then, at the very end of the broadcast, she offered an even bigger shock, using an acceptance speech to announce that she’s releasing a new album on October 21.

Shortly after that, Swift posted about the album, named Midnights, online and offered a short statement on it. There’s one part of that statement that has stuck out and prompted a compelling fan theory.

In her statement, Swift describes the album as “a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams.” One fan on Reddit’s Taylor Swift subreddit speculated that due to the apparently impromptu nature by which the songs were written, this could mean Midnights is entirely self-written. If that ends up being the case, Midnights would be Swift’s first album with no credited co-writers since 2010’s Speak Now.

Also possible, however, is that Swift started writing the songs herself and later refined them with recent collaborators like Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff. It sounds like that wouldn’t be too far off from the process behind Folklore and Evermore, as Antonoff indicated when defending Swift from Damon Albarn’s songwriting jabs earlier this year, tweeting, “i’ve never met damon albarn and he’s never been to my studio but apparently he knows more than the rest of us about all those songs taylor writes and brings in. herb.”

Video game mods are one of the best parts of modern gaming. A bit of a gray area, mods take an already released and developed game and let players make changes to the game’s coding so they can do things as minor as improving the graphics or as drastic as adding entirely new characters in the game. The reason it’s a gray area is that while most developers are okay with mods and see them as harmless, they can sometimes lead to harmful additions to the game that don’t match the original creator’s vision. However, sometimes players do something incredibly creative and improve a game, or bring players back to it so they can have new experiences through these mods.

Thankfully, nobody should have any problem with this latest mod for Marvel’s Spider-Man, because it definitely falls into the latter category. A new mod started making its way around that features the model for Spider-Man being replaced with the beloved and often memed, Kermit the Frog. In this mod, the hero of New York City is not your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, but your favorite singing puppet as he swings across the city defeating bad guys and jamming out to some of his favorite tunes. It’s incredible.

If you have ever wondered why it is that some fans swear by PC being the ultimate console for gaming, this would be why. The large majority of mods are PC-exclusive experiences and it’s only when games like Spider-Man reach PC that we get to experience Kermit swinging through the skies as he belts out “Sunshine.” To the many different possible copyright claims that can take down this mod, please look the other way on this one, because it’s too funny to not allow it.

Megan Thee Stallion is slowly but surely building up her acting resume. In addition to appearing on P-Valley as her alter ego Tina Snow and being cast in the upcoming musical comedy Identical F*cking Twins, it was also recently revealed that she has a role in a future episode of the Marvel superhero lawyer comedy She-Hulk. Today, in a new feature in The Cut, she revealed one of her dream roles, expressing a hope to follow in the footsteps of one of the most iconic millennial characters.

“I always have wanted to be Isis,” she said, citing the character made famous by Gabrielle Union in the 2000 cheerleader comedy Bring It On. “I would be perfect for that. If they were ever to make a new Bring It On, I should be that character.” Of course, there don’t appear to be any plans to reboot the original, while the series itself continues to this day, with a seventh installment, Bring It On: Cheer or Die, coming to SYFY this year (probably on Halloween, as it takes the franchise in a new direction as a teen slasher). There is, however, a stage musical, so there’s probably still hope for Meg yet.

The WNBA announced Monday that Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young has won 2022 Most Improved Player of the Year. She received 32 of 56 first-place votes, with New York Liberty guard and fellow first-time All-Star Sabrina Ionescu finishing second in the voting.

Averaging 15.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.4 steals, Young made her inaugural All-Star team this season. Las Vegas selected the Notre Dame product first overall in the 2019 Draft. After shooting 28.6 percent (22 of 77) beyond the arc throughout her first three years in the league, Young connected on 50 of 116 triples (43.1 percent) this season. Her growth from deep headlined a refined offensive approach for Las Vegas, who significantly upped its three-point volume and posted the WNBA’s top offensive rating in 2022.

Last week, Aces head coach Becky Hammon earned Coach of the Year, while star forward A’Ja Wilson is an MVP favorite alongside the Seattle Storm’s Breanna Stewart. The Storm and Aces continue their second-round series with Game 2 on Wednesday inside Michelob ULTRA Arena at 7 p.m.

Led by Jewell Lloyd’s 26 points and Stewart’s 24 points, fourth-seeded Seattle stole homecourt advantage from top-seeded Las Vegas with its 76-73, Game 1 victory on Sunday. Young, Hammon, Wilson and the rest of the Aces will aim to knot the best-of-five series at one game apiece with a win Wednesday.

Serena Williams will begin her final Grand Slam tennis tournament on Monday night when she takes on Danka Kovinic in the first round of the U.S. Open at 7:00 p.m. ET on center court at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Williams announced she will retire from tennis after the tournament earlier this summer, citing her desires off the court steadily pulling her away, from motherhood to business.

For arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, it will be quite the send-off at the tournament she has dominated since bursting onto the scene more than 20 years ago. Williams has six U.S. Open titles to her name and will be looking to add a seventh in storybook fashion — while also competing one more time with sister Venus in the doubles competition. But however her career ends, it will be a celebration of one of the great athletes of this generation, with plenty of tributes that figure to pour out in the next week-plus.

Among the first comes from her longtime sponsor Gatorade, which introduced a special S logo replacing their normal G for some U.S. Open gear, and tabbed Beyonce to narrate a video about her friend, celebrating the unapologetic manner in which Williams carried herself — her true self — for the world to see and millions of girls to look up to.

“When the world writes her down in history, we’ll begin where she started,” Beyonce’s narration reads. “At love. It’s a love that we’ll remember through the generations, a love that started a movement, a movement to always love exactly who you are and who you can be. To be so in love with your identity, that your very essence cannot be contained.”

As the invasion of Ukraine continues to be an embarrassment for Vladimir Putin, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has reportedly been sidelined for not delivering the crushing victory that Putin expected despite Kremlin propaganda to the contrary. Of course, the blame for the Ukraine mess lies with Putin, but the Russian president will never admit that’s his fault for appointing defense minister with no military experience.

The sidelining of Shoigu arrives via an intelligence update from the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence that claims the Russian leader was never truly respected by Putin or military forces because his prior experience involved working in construction.

Russian officers and soldiers with firsthand experience of the war probably routinely ridicule Shoigu for his ineffectual and out-of-touch leadership as Russian progress has stalled. Shoigu has likely long struggled to overcome his reputation as lacking substantive military experience, as he spent most of his career in the construction sector and the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

With Shoigu out of the loop, operational commanders are reporting directly to Putin, according to the briefing.

Despite conventional wisdom assuming that Russia would easily seize control of Ukraine, Putin’s military turned out to be in severe disarray. After being repelled by Ukraine forces, Russian conscripted troops have been less than eager to die for the failing mission. In fact, recent reports claim that soldiers are literally shooting themselves to get off the front line and go home with compensation pay.

While he’ll never admit it publicly, Russian scholars believe Putin knows that the Ukraine invasion was a mistake. However, his desire to be seen as a Peter the Great-esque figure will most likely keep him locked into the disastrous endeavor for far too long.

(Via Newsweek)

Although it looked like Russ was having the time of his life overseas ahead of his The Journey Is Everything world tour, he came with a reminder yesterday that looks can be deceiving and you never know what someone is dealing with behind the scenes. After just one show on the European leg of the tour, Russ announced that he is canceling the remainder of the European tour, which would have included Stockholm, Paris, London, and more. His reasoning: “I feel like sh*t,” he wrote in a post on social media.

I have to cancel the European tour. I could make up excuses so that I don’t lose money but the reality is mentally I feel like shit. In the last 24 hours shit happened that has led to some extremely lonely and empty realizations about things in my family life that have my head feeling like it’s gonna burst. I feel terrible about doing this to my European fans. If you no longer support me after this, I get it. If you don’t believe my reason, I get it. I’ve never had to do this and I feel very defeated but I can’t crash and burn and give y’all shitty performances on the way out. You will be refunded from your point of purchase. I’m very sorry and like I said, the last thing I wanna do is let my fans down which obviously, that’s what I’m doing so any negative feelings any of you end up having towards me, I understand. If this happened during the middle or end of tour I’d probably push through but it happening before the first show, knowing that I gotta go out and give my 100% energy to 24 shows is something I cannot do. I truly don’t expect people to care or to have empathy. Everyone has their own shit they gotta deal with. I just ask y’all to try to understand that maybe you don’t understand…that in it of itself is understanding. I need time to make sense of certain things and for once I need to put myself first. I’m really sorry. I love y’all.

Before canceling the tour, Russ linked up with Ed Sheeran in his “Are You Entertained” video to paint London red, spending a million dollars to promote the single. He also documented a Paris trip in his jet-setting video for “Yes Sir.” However, life comes at you fast, and even stars aren’t immune from heartbreak and poor mental health (this is why I yell at you stans out there so much. Be kind). Here’s hoping Russ gets well soon and can make it up to his European fans at a later date not too far in the future.

Johnny Depp made his first public appearance since the end of the defamation trial between him and ex-wife Amber Heard at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday. No, it wasn’t because “Sad Motherf*ckin’ Parade” was nominated for Best Collaboration — it was weirder than that. The Pirates of the Caribbean star appeared virtually inside a floating spacesuit to grumble something about needing work and being available for “birthdays, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, weddings, wakes, anything you need… anything.” There’s a lot of words that could be used to describe Depp’s cameo — weird, confounding, tasteless, etc. — but Amber Heard’s sister prefers “disgusting.”

“@MTV you’re disgusting and clearly desperate! I really hope that none of the people that made this call have daughters…,” Whitney Heard wrote in an Instagram Story, along with a graphic that reads “I stand with Amber Heard.” She also “renamed the event the ‘DVMA’s,’ a seeming reference to domestic violence,” according to People.

Following the trial in which Depp was awarded more than $10 million in compensatory damages (Heard is appealing), Whitney sided with her sister on Instagram. “I will always be proud of you for standing up for yourself, for testifying both here in Virginia and in the UK, and for being the voice of so many who can’t speak to the things that happen behind closed doors,” she wrote. “We knew that this was going to be an uphill battle and that the cards were stacked against us. But you stood up and spoke out regardless. I am so honored to testify for you, and I would do it a million times over because I know what I saw and because the truth is forever on your side.” You can read the post below.

(Via People)

Manifest will finally start to bring Flight 828 in for a landing this fall. That’s been the estimate for awhile, and fans of the sci-fi(-ish) soap opera have been patiently awaiting an update on when Season 4 would begin to arrive after NBC cancelled the series. Since the series got the ax at the same time that previous seasons sat atop the Netflix streaming charts, it seemed only natural that the streamer would want to pick it up, and that (fortunately) happened. Now, we’re staring down a two-part season that will eventually turn into a supersized one (to tie up loose ends after showrunner Jeff Rake planned for a full six seasons), and things are starting to come together.

We’re finally getting details, including a slight teaser that shows airplane chaos and a release date (November 4) for Season 4, Part 1.

As far as substance goes, we’re not learning anything new in this teaser, which is mostly a refresher to remind everyone that Flight 828 previously disappeared off the radar and surfaced 5 years later (in Earth time) while the passengers had no idea that anything was amiss other than some turbulence. As viewers know, there’s plenty of dark shadowy forces at work, and who really knows how the government angle will play out. As Fox Mulder once warned, however, these passengers probably want to continue to trust no one. Here’s an official Season 4 synopsis:

Two years after the brutal murder of Grace turned their lives upside down, the Stone family is in shambles as a devastated Ben continues to mourn his wife and search for his kidnapped daughter, Eden. Consumed by his grief, Ben has stepped down from his role as co-captain of the lifeboat, leaving Michaela to captain it alone, a near impossible feat with the passengers’ every move now being monitored by a government registry. As the Death Date draws closer and the passengers grow desperate for a path to survival, a mysterious passenger arrives with a package for Cal that changes everything they know about Flight 828 and will prove to be the key to unlocking the secret of the Callings in this compelling, mind-bending, and deeply emotional journey.

You heard it already, but yep, we’re finally going to see Michaela revisit the voices in her head, beginning on November 4 when Manifest descends upon Netflix.

Despite being a critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning, best-selling rapper, singer, and actor, Lizzo still somehow has to put up with fatphobic comments from fellow entertainers with a fraction of the accolades. During a recent podcast appearance, comedian Aries Spears disparaged Lizzo’s body, saying, “She got a very pretty face, but she keeps showing her body off… a woman that’s built like a plate of mashed potatoes, you’re in trouble.” Although Lizzo had plenty of defenders online, she got the last laugh Sunday night at the VMAs as she added yet another award to her growing collection of hardware.

Accepting the Video For Good award (she doesn’t know what it means, either) for her song “About Damn Time,” Lizzo took the high road, clapping back at Spears without clapping back at all. “To the bitches that got something to say about me in the press… You know what, I’m not gone say nothing. They be like, ‘Lizzo why don’t you clap back? Why don’t you clap back?’ ‘Cause, bitch, I’m winning, ho!” She also shared a clip of her speech on Twitter with the caption “KEEP MY NAME IN YO MOUF CUS I KNOW IT TASTE GOOD BITCH.” Check it out below and watch Lizzo’s VMAs performance here.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.